Headgear



E. W. FRANGOS Jan. 27, 1970 YHEADGEAR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 27,1967 INVENTOR. EVERETT W. FRANGOS ATTORNEY-S Jan. 27, 1970 E. w. FRANGOSv 3,491,374

' HEADGEAR Filed march'z'r, 1967 Y- 2 Sheet-Sheet 2 -1NVEN TOR. EVERETTW. FRANGOS ATTOR N EY.S

United States Patent O 3,491,374 HEADGEAR Everett W. Frangos, 96 EuclidAve., Lynn, Mass. 01904 Filed Mar. 27, 1967, Ser. No. 626,128 Int. Cl.A42c /04 US. Cl. 2171.3 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A headgearis provided to which is mounted a powerdriven propeller which may beoscillated manually or automatically back and forth over the top of thehead to deliver a flow of cooling air through a foraminous helmet ontothe wearer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION.

Field of the invention This invention is directed generally towardsimprovements in power cooled headgear and more particularly is directedtowards improvements in headgear having motor-driven fans forcirculating air over the wearer.

Description of the prior art Numerous types of power cooled hats,helmets and other types of headgear have been provided in the past. Suchheadgear have utilized motor-driven fans and batteries mounted to thehead piece. These motors are mounted in fixed position and drive airinto or exhaust air from the interior of the helmet. While thearrangement does provide a flow of cooling air over the head of thewearer, they are relatively heavy and uncomfortable to wear and, byreason of the fixed mounting of the fan, their air flow is localized tocertain portions of the head.

It is an object of the present invention to provide headgear with apower-driven fan in which the power supply is apart from the headgearand the fan is adapted to move back and forth or operate in any selectedposition wit-h respect to a supporting head piece so that a flow ofcooling air may be distributed evenly over the head of the wearer orover any selected spot. A further object of this invention is to providea power-cooled head piece which is light in weight and one which isuseful as a novelty toy or as a practical accessory for workers orothers in need of a personal fan.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention features a headgear comprising aforaminous helmet and a power-driven fan mounted to the helmet formovement over the top thereof whereby a flow of cool air may be directedonto the head of the wearer from different selected directions. The fanis driven by means of an elongated flexible drive shaft connected to abattery-motor unit which may be held in the hand or carried about in thepocket, In a modification of the invention an automatic oscillatingdrive mechanism is provided for continuously oscillating the fan backand forth from one side of the headgear to the other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of apower cooled headgear made according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation showing the pivotal connection ofthe hoop and helmet,

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but showing a modification of theinvention,

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 4,

3,491,374 Patented Jan. 27, 1970 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERREDEMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings and particularly to theembodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the reference character 10generally indicates a foraminous helmet typically fabricated from arelatively stiff plastic material. A large number of perforations 12 aredistributed over the entire helmet. Pivotally mounted on either side ofthe helmet is a hoop 14 which arches above the helmet to provideclearance. The ends of the hoop connect to the lower sides of the helmet10 by means of pivot connections 16 to be described more fully below.Mounted to the uppermost part of the loop 14 and extending erecttherefrom is a post 18 supporting a propeller 20 for rotation about thepost axis. The propeller 20 is drivingly connected to an elongatedflexible drive shaft 22 laid along the hoop 14 and extending clear ofthe helmet where it connects to a motor-battery unit 24. Themotor-battery unit 24 is a generally cylindrical device of a sort knownin the art and comprises a housing for conventional batteries with asmall motor mounted at one end. The motor is connected to the rotaryelement in the flexible drive shaft 22 so that operation of the unit 24will cause the propeller 20 to rotate. Preferably, the flexible driveshaft 22 is sufliciently long so that the unit 24 may be held in thehand or placed in the wearers pocket to provide freedom of movement forthe wearer without excessive Weight on his head.

The pivot connection 16 for the loop 14 is spring loaded and is bestillustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 where it will be seen that the connectioncomprises a stud 26 the head of which is received in a countersinking 28formed in the side of the helmet 10 with the shank of the stud extendingoutwardly. The threaded shank extends through an annular spacer 30, thelower end of the hoop 14, a pulley 32 and into a screw-cap 34 of theoutside thereof. A coil spring 36 is wound about the spacer 30 and hasits inner end 38 locked to the hoop 14 and the pulley 32. A threadedbushing 42 engages the shank of the stud 26 and is formed with annularcollar 44 which seats in against an annular groove and shoulder 46formed in a counter-sinking of the pulley 32. The screw cap has itsinner end slightly spaced from the end of the threaded bushing and seatsagainst an annular shoulder 48 on the pulley. A cord 50 is wrapped aboutthe grooved periphery of the pulley 32 and its free end hangs downbeside the helment. It will be understood that by the wearer pulling onthe end of the cord 50 the pulley will rotate causing the hoop 14 tomove to the rearward position illustrated in dotted line in FIG. 1 andby releasing the cord the spring 36 will cause the hoop, together withpropeller, to return to the forward position shown in full line inFIG. 1. When the hoop with this propeller is to Y be moved back andfourth in this fashion, the screw cap is backed off slightly to permitthe hoop and pulley to rotate freely. Should it be desired to lock thehoop and propeller in any one position, it is necessary only to tightenup on the screw caps.

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 4 and 5, there is illustrated amodification of the invention and in this emobidment idler spinners 52and 54 are detachably mounted to the hoop 14. Each of the detachablespinners includes a tubular shank 56 the lower end of which is formedWith a socket 58 having an internal shoulder 60 adapted to cooperatewith an annular groove 3 62 formed on a stud 64 fixed to the hoop 14.The lower end of the post 56 conforms to the curve of the hoop 14' andit will be understood that the spinner assemblies may be readily snappedon or off the fixed posts 64.

The FIG. 4 embodiment also includes a detachable cover 66 for the helmetwhich cover is a concave piece conforming to the shape of the helmet andprovided with an opening in its center by which a screw cap 68 may beconnected for securing the cover 66 over the helmet. The cover 66 servesto close over a large portion of the helmet openings should the wearerdesire to reduce the flow of air directly against his head. Thedetachable spinners provides not only a novelty feature but, by means oftheir location behind the power-driven propeller will rotate under theaction of the air flow when the powerdriven propeller is operated. Thuswith the three propellers rotating, the air flow will be more Widelydistributed down over the wearer.

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 6 and 7, there is illustratedanother modification of the invention and in this embodiment means areprovided for automatically oscillating the propeller support back andforth over the helmet. In this embodiment a propeller 26" is mounted toa spinner 18" and hoop 14" and is drivingly connected through a flexibledrive shaft 22" to a motor 'battery unit 24". The fixible drive shaft22', in addition to driving the propeller 20", also drives a worm gear70 in mesh with a pinion gear 72 rotatably mounted to the side of thehelmet 10". The hoop 14" is pivoted to the helmet by means of pivot pin74 located above the axis of the pinion gear 72. Each end 0 the hoop isslotted at 76 and engages a pin 78 carried eccentrically on the piniongear 72. It will be understood that as the worm 70 rotates under theaction of the flexible drive shaft the pinion gear 72 will be rotatedwhich will turn the crank pin 78 riding in the slot 76 to oscillate thehoop 14 back and forth about the axis of the pin 74 on a continuousbasis.

Referring now more particularly to FIG. 8, there is illustrated afurther modification of the invention and in this embodiment a head band80 is employed in place of the helmet illustrated in the principalembodiment supporting a hoop and propeller assembly of the sort shown inFIG. 1. The function of the hoop and propeller assembly is the samebeingoscillated back and forth man ually by means of a pulley or theautomatic drive of FIGS. 6 and 7 may be employed.

Having thus described the invention what I claim and desire to obtain byLetters Patent of the United States is:

1. Headgear, comprising (a) an open work engaging member of a size andshape to be Worn on the head,

(b) a supoprt pivotally mounted to the outer surface of said member,

(c) a propeller rotatably mounted to said support about an axisgenerally perpendicular to the axis of said support and movable withsaid support to different angular positions,

(d) an elongated flexible drive shaft drivingly connected at one end tosaid propeller, and

(e) a motor battery unit drivingly connected to the other end of saidshaft.

2. Headgear according to claim 1 including oscillating drive meansoperatively connecting said support and said drive shaft forautomatically oscillating said support from one position to another.

3. Headgear, comprising (a) an open-work engaging member of a size andshape to be worn on the head,

(b) an arched member pivotally connected by its ends to the outersurface and opposite sides of said head engaging member,

(0) a propeller rotatably mounted to said arched memher and movabletherewith,

(d) power means drivingly connected to said propeller,

(e) a pulley mounted to said arched member at one of its pivot points,

(f) a cord wound about said pulley, and

(g) spring means normally urging said arched member in one directionwith respect to said head engaging member.

References Cited UNITED STATES' PATENTS 3,043,052 7/1962 Stanzel 462433,238,535 3/1966 Richey 2=8 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner GEORGEH. KRIZMANECH, Assistant Examiner

